Cabletron Systems NB30 Manual De Usuario

3-1

Bridge management overview; viewing and managing bridging interfaces; using the Bridge Status 
window; viewing bridge statistics; using Spanning Tree; using the Filtering Database; Restoring bridge 
defaults; Resetting bridge defaults; Restarting the bridge.

Bridges are used in local area networks to connect two or more network segments 
and to control the ßow of packets between the segments. Ideally, bridges forward 
packets to another network segment only when necessary. 

Bridges are also used to increase the fault tolerance in a local area network by 
creating redundant bridge paths between network segments. In the event of a 
bridge or bridge segment failure, an alternate bridge path will be available to 
network trafÞc, without signiÞcant interruption to its ßow. 

The method a bridge uses to forward packets, choose a bridge path, and ensure 
that a sending stationÕs messages take only one bridge path depends on the 
bridgeÕs type: Transparent (generally used in Ethernet or FDDI environments) or 
Source Routing (generally used in Token Ring environments), Source 
Route-Transparent, or Source Route-TranslationalÑthe two latter being 
combinations that are found in a mixed network environment. Because the NB-30 
is a transparent bridge, this chapter describes viewing and conÞguration options 
related to Transparent bridging.